Feeding mechanism for machines for treating wool



(No Model. 2 Sheets--Sheet 1. W. U. BRAMWELL.

FEEDINGYMEGHANHM FOR MACHINES FOR TREATING WOOL. No. 411,090. PatentedSept. 17, 1889..

Wiiqassas. Ir w/aqtclr.

M ZUZZWz/GfirmeZ/D N. PETERS, Plume-Lithographer, Washington D. c.

2 Sheets-Shed 2.

(No Model.)

W. O. BRAMWELL. FEEDING MECHANISM FOR MACHINES FOR TREATING WOOL. No.411,090.

Patented Sept. 17, 1889..

W/EI/ITL'IEEEEE.

IqY/Eqiu 1 N. PETERS PlwmLilho n he Washing'on. D4 C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM O. BRAMVELL, OF HYDE PARK, MASSACHUSETTS.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR MACHINES FOR TREATING WOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,090, datedSeptember 17, 1889.

Application filed June 28, 1887- Serial No. 242,706. (No model.)

To (ZZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM C. BEAMWELL, of Hyde Park, county ofNorfolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inFeeding Mechanism for Machines for Treating WVool, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of improved apparatusfor feeding long-fibered wool into machines for treating wool-such, forinstance, as wool washers and driers.

Myimproved apparatus includes an endless toothed elevating-apron to takethe wool from a mass of wool in the feed box or receptacle, the saidelevating-apron having combined with it at its rear or delivery side notonly a vibrating clearer or stripper having two or more rows ofneedle-pointed teeth, but also a stationary toothed holder having two ormore rows of needle-pointed teeth, the extent of movement of the saidclearer or stripper being such with relation to the teeth of theelevating-apron opposite which it travels and with relation to the teethof the said holder that the said clearer or stripper acts to clear thewool not only from the teeth of the apron, but also from the teeth ofthe holder, the latter acting in turn to detach the'wool from thestripper on the return-stroke of the latter.

In the machine to be herein described the Wool, placed in a receptacleor feed-box in a mass, is acted upon intermittingly by ahorizontally-reciprocating pusher, which impales the wool upon the teethof the said apron at the bottom of the said receptacle. 1 have shown anapron-like comb or evener to cooperate with the front or receiving sideof the said elevating-apron to detach from it any knots or largeparticles of wool and prevent the same from being carried over to therear or delivery side of the elevating-apron within the range of thestripper.

Figure l is a side elevation of a sufficient portion of a wool-feedingapparatus to enable my invention to be understood; Fig. 2, a verticalsection thereof, parts of the apparatus at the farther side of theframe-work being shown by dotted lines; and Figs. 3 and 4, respectively, show portions of the acting face of the stripper and. of theholder, they having their teeth set dodging.

The frame-work A, of suitable shape to sustain the working parts, isprovided with an inclined cross-partition a and a bottom plate 1),preferably perforated or reticulated, as shown, for the escape of dirt,sand, &c. The front of the frame has a door a, hinged at a and below thedoor the frame has an inclined bottom board (6, upon which the wool orother fiber drops and down which it slides, the sides of the frame, itsend provided with the door, and the partition a and bottom 12 forming aboX or receptacle for wool or other fiber. Be low the bottom board a andbetween it and the bottom plate I) and opposite the lowest part of theelevating-apron J, is arranged a horizontally-movable pusher D, it beingreciprocated by means of arms 12 of a rockshaft 12 having a third armbflactuated bya link If, connected to a crank-pin b on a pulley bsecured to the shaft b carrying the roll 12*, the lower end of each ofthe said arms being slotted to embrace a stud 12 of the pusher, the saidstuds, one at each end thereof, having preferably square bearingblocksZ2 which slide in slots b of the frame. The toothed elevating or liftingsurface J is made in the form of an endless apron, the said apron beingpassed about rollers c c, a third roll c being preferably employed todeflect the toothed surface outward at'its rear.

or delivery side. The toothed surface J receives upon the points of itsstraight needlepointed teeth the wool to be elevated by it, the woolbeing impaled upon the points of the teeth by the pusher D. The wooltaken up by teeth of the toothed elevating-surface is acted upon by theteeth of an evener or comber 0, herein shown as an endless apron havinga series of teeth 2, the said apron being passed over rolls b and Z9 theteeth of the evener or oomber acting to comb out and throw back from thetoothed elevatingsurface any knots or large particles of wool thereon inexcess of the quantity desired. At the rear side of the toothedelevating-sun face I have located a detacher or stripper B, it beingshown as a segmental plate provided with two or more rows of teeth 3,set dodging, as best shown in Fig. 3, the segmental plate being attachedto suitable arms 6 (one of which is shown in Fig. 2) of a rock-shaft 5,the stripper at each vibration clearing oil from the teeth of thetoothed elevating-apron substantially all the fiber left thereon afterpassing the evener or comber G, the said stripper being moved enough topass ifullybeyond or past the needle-pointed teeth l of the holder F, ithaving two or more rows of teetlndodged as shown in Fig. :1. Thestripper in its d ownward movement, as described, acts to discharge thewool previously supplied to the holder, and as the stripper returns thewool last taken by it from the elevating-apron, is discharged upon theteeth 4- of the said holder, the teeth 1 being so located with relationto the teeth 3 that the teeth l in the ascent of the stripper take thewool from it, the stripper at its next descent pushing the wool out frombetween the teeth of the holder, from which it drops either upon atraveling lattice, as E, or into a suitable box or receptacle. The wooldeposited upon the lattice IE will be carried forward, and will be takenfrom the lattice by usual feed-roll 7.", and cylinder L of a picker orother machine into which. the wool is to be fed.

\Vhen my invention is applied to a woolwashing machine, the latticemaybe dispensed with, the wool falling directly into the bowl of thewashing-machine.

The holder F is shown as attached to a girt 12, itin practice extendingfrom one to the opposite side of the frame-work.

R represents the main shaft of the feeding attachment shown in thedrawings, and in practice its pulley R will be driven byabelt R from themain cylinder or other shaft of the picker or machine to which the woolis to be fed. The shaft R has on it near the pulley R'a pinion7L,Wlli0ll engages atoothed wheel 71 on a stud 71?, the said toothedwheel having a crank-pin 7l which by link 71, connected to a stud 7L5 ofthe arm 7L of the rockshaft, gives motion to the stripper B. At itsopposite end the shaft R has a pulley 121, (see dotted lines, Fig. 2,)which drives a belt m, extended over a belt-pulley m on the end of theshaft of the roll I), the said shaft having a pinion m, which, throughan intermediate m", engages the pinion m on and rotates the roll 0 todrive the belt J.

The feed-rolls and lattice will be actuated by suitable gears, all asusual.

The machine herein described is specially designed to feed long-fiberedwool in fleece form, or after the wool has been once washed, and to feedthis class of wool it would be practically impossible to employ atoothed cylinder to take the place of the elevating-apron; and so, also,it would be practically impossible to feed this class of wool if theclearer or stripper at the rear side of the said elevating-apron had buta single row of teeth or if said teeth were curved or hooked. If theclearer or stripper had but one row of teeth, the said teeth could notbeplaced sul'liciently close together to clear the wool at each strokefrom the teeth at that part of the apron past which the clearer orstripper moves, because to practically detach this class of wool fromthe elevating-amen the teeth of the vibrating stripper and also of theholder must be set in two or more rows, and the teeth in one row mustdodge the teeth in the next row, thereby enabling the individual teethto be set at a sullicient distance apart to prevent the wool fromclogging, and atthe same time the teeth in the succeeding rowsthe teethof the clearer and stripper being dodged, as describedare enabled totravel one after the other in close paths of motion. It the teeth of thestripper were made as notched plates, they would cut the long fibers ofthe wool, which would result in the production of noil or waste ratherthan of top wool; but by the employment of needles set in two or morerows, as shown, the fiber of the wool is not broken.

I am aware that card-feeders have had cylinders provided with. hookedteeth to take the wool from a receptacle and that the wool or fibertaken up by the teeth of the cylinder has been, removed from the teethof the cylinder by means of a stripper having a single row of teeth, thesaid stripper act ing to take the wool from said cylinder intermittinglyand carry it to a stationary comb, the said stationary comb havingcooperating with it another rising and falling stripper-comb; but in myinvention herein contained this third stripper-comb is not needed, forthe motion of the stripper l is such that it strips the holder l as wellas the elevating-apron, and the stripper B is in turn stripped by thesaid holder.

I am aware that an elevating-apron has had combined with it ahorizontally-arranged endless chain and an endless apron, between whichhave been placed removable boards to form pockets in which a determinedor meas ured quantity of wool and fibers may be placed, the said chainand apron in movement causing the wool or fibers in front of the saidboards to be gradually pushed forward against and so as to be taken fromsaid pockets one after another by the teetlrof the elevatingapron, thesaid boards being removed from time to time from between the chain andapron as the boards are brought up to the elevatingapron. Prior to myinvention I am not, however, advised nor am I aware that a toothedelevating-apron located in a feed box or receptacle has had combinedwith it ahorizontallyreciprocating pusher to act intermittingly upon themass of wool in the said receptacle, be the same more or less, and at apointopposite the bottom run of the said elevatingapron, to therebyimpale the wool thereon by repeated blows ot' the pusher.

I claim 1. The feed box or receptacle for the fiber to be fed and. thetoothed elevating-apron therein, combined with ahorizontally-reciprocating pusher located at the bottom of the said feedbox or receptacle, and with means for-actuating the said pusher to causeit to act upon the said fiber at the bottom of the said receptacle andimpale it upon the teeth of the said elevating-apron, substantially asset forth.

2. A receptacle for the wool or other fiber to be fed, a toothedelevating-surface therein, and a reciprocating pusher, combined with acomber or evener composed of atoothed apron to co-operate with the saidelevating-surface, substantially as described.

3. A receptacle for the Wool or other fiber to be fed, a toothedlifting-surface therein, a reciprocating pusher, and an apron comber orevener, substantially as described, combined with a segmental clearer orstripper located at the rear side of the toothed elevating-surface, andwith a fixed holder, to operate substantially as described.

4. A receptacle for fiber and an elevatingapron therein havingneedle-pointed teeth, and the vibrating stripper located at the rearside of the said elevating-apron and having two or more rows ofsubstantially straight needle -pointed teeth, substantially as described, set dodging, combined with a holder also located at the rearside of the said elevating-apron and having two or more rows ofneedle-pointed teeth, the motion of said stripper being of such extent,substantially as described, asto enable the stripper to strip the teethof the elevating-apron and of the said holder, and to be in turn clearedby the holder, substantially as set forth.

5. A receptacle for the fiber and an elevating-apron therein havingneedle-pointed teeth, and a vibrating stripper located at the rear sideof the said elevating-apron and having two or more rows ofneedle-pointed teeth set dodging, combined With a holder also located atthe rear side of the said elevatingapron and having two or more rows ofneedle-pointed teeth, the motion of the stripper being of such extent,substantially as described, as to enable it to clear the teeth in theelevating-apron and the teeth in the holder, the teeth of the saidstripperbeing in turn cleared by the holder, and with a reciprocatingpusher, and means to move it intermittingly to impale the fiber at thebottom of the mass in the said receptacle upon the teeth of the saidelevating-apron, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

W VILLIAM O. BRAMXVELL.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, C. M. CONE.

